It's all in a day's work (From Tewkesbury Admag)

It's all in a day's work

12:34pm Thursday 5th October 2006 in News

Mark Calway is the constituency assistant to Tewkesbury MP Lawrence Robertson.

He mans the local office in the High Street, dealing with all the queries and problems that come in, and keeps the MP in touch with all issues concerning his constituents.

It is certainly not a job where he knows what he will be doing from one day to the next.

For example, one day could be dealing with someone who has problems over their tax credits, or contacting various agencies for someone who is homeless. Other duties include carrying out background research for a question Lawrence is due to ask in the House of Commons or helping with a campaign such as the one to keep Alderman Knight School open.

He is also responsible for keeping the MP's constituency diary and ensuring he is in the right place at the right time.

"Basically I back him up and am his representative in the constituency when he is away," he said.

The greatest pleasure in his job is solving something that was causing someone a great worry.

"Usually we are where people they turn to when they don't know where else to go.

"It might be a pensioner who is not aware of the benefits he or she is entitled to, and seeing them get the extra money and not have to worry about paying the heating bills, is wonderful and gives me a real buzz" he said.

However, a real down side is understanding a problem but not being able to do anything about it.

"It could be someone whose mother has dementia and has to go into a care home and the only way they can fund it is by selling the family home.

"I can only tell them that I understand the problem, but those are the rules and even though I believe the rule is wrong, I can't change it.

"That is very hard to deal with," he said.

Sometimes a query that comes into the office can lead directly to a question being asked in Parliament - if neither Mark or Lawrence can find the answer any other way.

Mark has always been interested in politics, and says that although standing for Parliament would be nice, he would not like to have to move from his Gloucestershire home.

"I was born and bred here, and don't ever want to live anywhere else," added Mark.